The Fabulous Five

I figured that this would probably be the first and maybe only year that I get to choose cute little matchy outfits for the twins! I didn't want to originally put Pete in the devil costume because his disposition is so OPPOSITE of that! But, after I put the little cap with the horns on, I just couldn't resist. And Miss Avery Grace just looked so angelic in her little ensemble!

We went trick-or-treating to a few neighbors on the street, took lots of pictures, and then brought the babies home and let them play! They actually really liked their outfits. Pete kept that little cap on like a champ! Big Pete and I have also enjoyed their candy!

I'm actually kinda glad October is over . . . it has been a busy month as you can tell with all the blogs! I have a feeling, though, that it will be busy for awhile with Thanksgiving, 1st birthdays and Christmas all around the corner!!!

Nana's school had trick-or-treating for all the staff's kids (and grandkids!) on Thursday. The babies were such a hit! We strolled them around in their stroller and they were amazed by all the kiddos running around and all the adults looking at them!

I know that people are looking at me and wondering if I'm pregnant because of my expanding belly, but then they see that I have two small children and they think "No way!"

On the way home from Austin, Pete realized that he had accidentally picked up his sister-in-law, Brandi's, keys. As they were her only set, we were in a predicament because we were almost half way home. Luckily, Pete's parents were driving TO Austin to see the last of the baseball tournament and were only about 30 miles from where we were at the time! (Talk about luck - thank goodness!)

Well, we stopped in the meantime to wait at a Seafood and Donut shop. I kid you not! They serve donuts in the morning and seafood for lunch and dinner - try finding that in a town near you! In the "restaurant" there was a group of little old grey haired ladies that were having their Sunday donuts and gossip session after church. They oohed and ahhed over the twins and were just as sweet as small town folks can be. The funniest part was, though, that they tried to keep their voices down, but weren't successful! They were discussing how I was such a poor thing because I couldn't lose my baby weight! I heard, and thought it was hilarious and had a good ol' laugh! I don't think I would have thought it was so funny had I not been 5 months pregnant!

Sometimes I want to say to people "I lost the weight! I lost the weight!" and other times I think it's better just to keep my mouth shut!!

Avery, Jon, Dave, Pete, Justin

Our nephew, David, had his baseball tournament this weekend so we decided to go see him play. We only got to see one game, but it turns out that they won the whole tournament. The last game of David's that I had been to was about 5 years ago when he was playing T-ball . . .boy, were things different this time!

Avery and Pete got a ton of love from their cousins and Uncle Dave and Aunt B. They even got to pal around with Abby, Dave and Brandi's dog! Avery kept trying to ride Abby! We only stayed one night, but we had a great time visiting!
What you laughin' at Uncle Dave??


Justin, Pete, Jonathan


Aunt B gettting a cuddle in with Avery.


Oh, Daddy, you're so fun!

Avery and Miss Kylie (our friends, Kathryn and Ryan's little girl) got to pal around on Friday night, and Pete got to put on some of his charm! (hee hee) Avery kept looking at Kylie and laughing, to try to get Kylie to laugh. It was so super cute. Kylie wasn't too sure what to make of my two monkeys!


Everybody in their jammies . . . aren't babies in their jammies so cute??

The weather has been absolutely wonderful lately. I'm trying to get out as much as possible, mainly for the babies, but a little bit for me too.

The babies were fascinated by the pumpkins. I could not get a picture of both of them smiling! Welcome to 10 month old twins who are interested in everything!

They are my little pumkins and I guess I'm starting to get big and round like a little pumpkin too!

Ashley and her boyfriend Bobby came into town this past weekend. I tried to pawn off as many dirty diapers as I could! Pete loved his Aunt Ashley, he kept looking at her and smiling away. She even got him to cuddle, which at this crazy moving stage, is a tough thing to do!! At dinner out one night, everyone was so impressed with how awesome the babies acted! I really am truly lucky. . . and keep wondering if new baby girl is going to be the terror!!!

We all watched the Tech game on Saturday and the babies suited up in their Tech gear. We tried endlessly to do "guns up" with them, but to no avail. Every once and awhile they would turn their attention to the game, but I guess they are like their momma and get distracted very easily from football!

And the winner is . . . Avery! On Friday, she took the first of many steps that she attempted during the weekend. We were all sitting around watching them, commenting on how it would be really soon when they started walking, when Miss Avery let go of her toy, took 2 steps and plopped down. She has mastered the 2 step thing, but after that I think she realizes she out there all alone and plops down!

GIRL!!!


Girls outnumber boys in our house 3-2! It was so exciting and different this time! With the twins we decided to wait until they were born to find out the sex. This time, we found out early and it was fun! For some reason, I just KNEW it was a girl. I had dreams and just could feel it. Even when everyone kept telling me "Oh it's a boy" I kept it in the back of my mind.

During the ultrasound, Pete kept saying "Oh there it is, I can tell it's a boy" and the technician kept saying "No I haven't gotten there yet, that is a foot." It was so hilarious!!

The babies were unfazed that they are having a sister. At least we won't have to worry about sibling rivalry when we bring the new baby girl home. As for names, we going to keep that a secret. I have one that I love, but Pete has to decide if it is "just right". So, basically, we don't know yet!!

Ohh - we're getting close to a year!! My parents got down one of my old toys to see if the kiddos would play with it. It's funny how almost 30 years later, it still does the job!!!

Avery is eating like champ and I can tell that she is growing like a weed. As you can see her shirt is covered with drool . . .which has become the norm! You would think with all that drool there would be some teeth behind it, but we're still waiting to see those! She is fearless and goes for everything. She is sleeping through the night again - Yipppee! Laughing and smiling at everything and everyone is her speciality. One really funny thing that she does is grab a stuffed animal, laugh and roll around on the floor with it!


Pete is ALWAYS growing like a weed! The boy is getting into everything. He hates falling down on his butt, so he's always looking for someone to help him! He loves to follow his sister around, and she seems to be beckoning him to follow. His poor teeth are really hurting him lately, and I can understand why . . .they seem so big! He likes to be entertained a bit more than his sister, and seems to be getting a little tired with some of his toys, especially his old favorite the Exersaucer. His other favorite, Johnny Jumper, doesn't really hold him anymore - it sags down to the floor now and doesn't leave him much jumping room!!
Avery and Pete have found their favorite TV show - Wonderpets! They love it and it really keeps thier attention. (And yes, Avery's diaper looks very strange! I had run out of her size and she was wearing some of her brother's size . . .which are alittle too big for her!!)
Here they are playing piano and listening to Raffi . .. "Down by the Bay . . "! They always look around and try to figure out where the sound is coming from.

Update on Baby #3 - We find out on Friday if the boys or the girls are going to be outnumbered in our family!!!

We went today to see how things were coming along on our house. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it is almost framed! It is so exciting to see it at the different stages. We felt reaffirmed that we were doing the right thing . . . and we can't wait until we can move in (hopefully December!)

This was the best shot we could get with all four of us and the camera propped up on the car!

This is the back! We are super excited about our back yard - it's HUGE!!

It looks like we are the only house on the block . . . but there is actually about5 on our street that will be finished before ours! We're ready to meet some neighbors!

This is looking down from the gameroom (a.k.a. babies new playroom) into our living room!

P.S. - Look at the time on this post . . .2 am! I finally get Avery to sleep during the night and now I can't!!

For the past few months, Avery has without fail been getting up about 1:30 each night. She would cry and cry until I would take her out of bed and let her sleep in her baby chair. She was even starting to wake up little brother (ughh!!). So this momma has tried EVERYTHING to figure out what is going on. I put white noise in their room, I made it warmer/cooler, I tried socks/no socks, I fed her more during the day, ect. ect. ect.!!!

As I was reading the other day yet another article, I came across the idea that kiddos need to feel very comfortable in their surroundings when they wake up during the night, so that they can put themselves back to sleep. I hadn't really thought about it, but I have always been letting the kids take their naps in their baby chairs. So the only time they go in their cribs is at night. Well, I spent one day of "crying" naps for Avery. I would let her cry for a few minutes, go and soothe, and then the whole thing would start over again.



WELL . . . it seems to have worked!!! Avery now puts herself to sleep in her crib! And she stays asleep!!! She will play and roll around in her crib for a little while and then eventually she goes to sleep on her own!! VOILA!!! We have had 3 peaceful nights of sleep so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays this way!

Here is my first belly pic! The past week or so I have just seemed to grow! I'm going to try to keep up with it as well as I did with Avery and Pete . . .but things are a little bit busier now!! With my last pregnancy, I had quit working and was just laying around watching TV and chilling out. My, my, how things can change . . .

October is a very busy month for Pete's family. His brother Scott, his mom, Joan, and his dad, Pete, all have their birthday the first week! Pete's parents were turning 60 and his brother turned 30 - so all BIG birthdays.

The babies were as sweet as could be all weekend. Smiled their little hearts out and generally just had a great time. We got so many cute family pictures, these were some of my favorites!

In his own special way,Pete says, "Happy Birthday, Grandma!"


Ah Aunt Jamie . . .do you see a trend with Pete and girls???


Come here Grandpa, I have secret to tell you! (I promise we DO have clothes for Avery . . .she would just rather go without!!)

Waking up with Uncle Dave and Aunt Brandi!

Avery enjoying her new favorite "table food" . . . bananas. It looked like she had buck teeth!